If This Is Leadership, I’m Not Following
What do airlines, banks, newspapers, speakers bureaus, and publishers all have in common? (This is not a joke, but I wish it were.) They run their businesses horribly and try to atone for it by gouging the customer, vender, or supplier. Book
The $20 Heist
Every day I receive Google Alerts about my name, trademarks, and so forth. It’s nice to see where I’m quoted or where something I’ve written or recorded has spread. However, once a week or more, I receive notice that some of
Why You Can’t Get Fat on Water
I'm at Caesar's Palace in Atlantic City, where we've holed up in order to see Huey Lewis and the News at the Flamingo tonight (3rd row, center). Tomorrow we move on to Cape May for a week. The hotel generously provides
I’ll Stop Being A Victim Once Everyone Corrects All My Errors
I get some nutty requests and some innocent misunderstandings in my mail, but sometimes I simply receive unbridled self-absorption. I guy writes me this morning and says that he purchased on of my books on Amazon.com as an electronic download for
You Can’t Make This Stuff Up…
Recent email and phone messages: • You haven't sent me the download of the teleconference yet, and I paid yesterday. (The teleconference wasn't for another month.) • You need to call me. There's a charge on my credit card statement from your
You Never Know
In my weekly Alan's Monday Morning Memo®® yesterday, Memorial Day in the U.S., I simply posted a photo of the graves at the American Cemetery in Normandy, with the request that we pause and remember those who have served and
Quo Vadis, HR?
(as published on Human Resource Executive Online ) The ship of HR as a profession may be sailing into the sunset unless senior-level executives face up to the failures of the function, writes an HR consultant. No one
Dressing Down on Campus
One night at a restaurant, my son received a message on his cell phone. He’s finishing a three-year fellowship in theater at the University of Florida, and he’s required to teach quite a few classes. I assumed it was about
You Get What You Pay For
I think that people believe, for better or worse, they get what they pay for. They'll excuse something cheap that breaks ("It only cost a few bucks") even though it was clearly meant to last far longer. And they'll cheer
Confessional Cell
One of the great, contemporary discordancies in life is the fact that you can ask someone with an arm in a sling, a pit bull attached to a leg, and a police officer approaching with gun drawn, "How are you?"